Raiders hang on for victory over Chiefs despite poor play

Raiders coach Hue Jackson bowed his head as Sebastian Janikowski’s 36-yard field goal sailed through the uprights and gave the Raiders a 16-13 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.
On the one hand, Jackson no doubt was thankful that the Raiders won and kept alive their slim playoff hopes. On the other, he had to be wondering how his team won a game in which it played so poorly.
The Raiders won despite two interceptions thrown by quarterback Carson Palmer, 15 penalties for 92 yards, 435 yards allowed by the defense and a Chiefs kicker missing two field goals after making 22 straight since late September.
Jackson doesn’t have to be told that his team didn’t play playoffs-caliber football. They won because Richard Seymour blocked two field goals, including one at the end of regulation. They won because Palmer completed two deep passes, one for a touchdown to Denarius Moore, the other to Darrius Heyward-Bey two plays before Janikowski’s game-winning field goal.
Yet, Jackson has to know that such play won’t take the Raiders far in the AFC Playoffs, if even out of the first round.
At this point, Jackson and the Raiders are just thankful that they have a chance at all. The playoffs scenario is broken down in the previous post.
In short, the Raiders need to finish ahead of the Denver Broncos to win the AFC West. The Raiders host the San Diego Chargers, the Broncos host the Chiefs.
If that fails to materialize, the Raiders need to beat the Chargers and hope the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals for the Raiders to win the second wild-card berth.

PENALTIES AREN’T GOING AWAY
Jackson can cease talking about how he is going to remedy the penalties issue. That won’t happen until next season, if ever.
The Raiders committed 15 on Saturday, marking the third time they reached that figure in 15 games. They now are at 155 penalties for 1,294 yards.
The NFL records are 158 for 1,304 yards by the 1998 Chiefs. The Raiders break both records with four penalties and 11 yards against the Chargers.

GIORDANO COMES UP BIG … AGAIN
Safety Matt Giordano has four interceptions this season. All four came in Raiders victories and played pivotal roles in the outcome.
On Saturday, Giordano intercepted Kyle Orton in the end zone, snuffing out a promising Chiefs drive. In retrospect, a field goal there would have been the difference in the game.
Giordano also scooped up a loose ball after the first blocked field goal, at the end of the first half. Oh, and he finished with a game-high 10 tackles.
Not bad for a player who was cut at the end of training camp, only to be re-signed before the regular-season opener.

WIDE RECEIVERS COME UP HUGE
Palmer completed only 10 passes to his wide receivers. However, one went for a 61-yard touchdown to Moore in the third quarter to give the Raiders a 10-3 lead. Another one went for 53 yards to Heyward-Bey early in overtime, and it set up the game-winning field goal.
Overall, Palmer struggled for most of the game. He had three passes intercepted, though one was negated by a pass interfernce penalty.
One of the interceptions came as Palmer got hit on a play when he should have thrown away the ball or taken a sack. The other came when Palmer threw deep … into triple coverage.

DEFENSIVE LAPSES RESURFACE
The Chiefs needed only 1 minute, 2 seconds to march 80 yards and tie the game in the fourth quarter after the Raiders had taken a 13-6 lead. They also marched into field-goal position at the end of regulation despite taking over at their own 33-yard line, with only 16 seconds left.
The Chiefs managed 116 yards in only eight plays on those two drives. It proved reminiscent of the Lions cobbling together back-to-back touchdown drives that covered 169 yards in a little more than 4 minutes last Sunday.

JANIKOWSKI COMES UP HUGE
The value of a reliable field goal kicker showed up once again Saturday. It proved to be the difference in the game, too.
Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop had two field goals blocked, when either one could have been the difference in the game. Janikowski converted one in overtime for the victory.
Janikowski’s performance Saturday should be enough to ensure his first Pro Bowl selections, when they are announced Tuesday. His lone miss Saturday came from 58 yards out — it came up just short.

TRICK PLAY FOILED
Credit Jackson and special teams coordinator John Fassel for dialing up the right call when they had holder Shane Lechler flip the ball to Brandon Myers on a field-goal play.
Myers rambled for an apparent touchdown. But, no, the play got wiped out because the Raiders failed to get off the snap before the play clock ran out.
That has to be on Lechler, and it boggles the mind how the snap can’t be expedited as the clock nears zero. The 5-yard penalty compelled Jackson to stick with a field-goal attempt on the ensuing play. That’s when Janikowski came up 1-yard shy of converting from 58 yards.

We win tiebreak if it’s just Bengals-Raiders.
We only really need Jets involved IF Titans win.

hwnrdr

I know Bengals play Baltimore, Jets at Miami, and Tennessee at Houston…I can see Baltimore, Jets and Houston winning…but yes, we have to win first! Hopefully KC will play inspired enough to knock off Denver!

hwnrdr

Anyways…you all have a very, Merry Christmas Nation! It will all work out in the end!

Bengals will be motivated to win, and Lewis has a good record against the Ravens. Ravens must win to claim top 2 seed, otherwise they will end up 5th seed. Tough game to predict. If Bengals win, we’re cooked for WC, and must rely on Chiefs to beat Donkeys.

Jets at Miami…Miami will be motivated to win and are actually a very good team. The fear here is Miami winning because…

Texans have no motivation to win this. They can’t improve their seed and can’t drop their seed. A Titans win is most likely here. Hopefully tho, Texans are motivated by the desire to knock the Titans out of the playoff race, as divisional foes.

Seymour Bush

# Sullivan44 Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Bob Marley you are full of it man because a few years ago you said it’s not about winning and losing, it’s just about being a Raider fan, part of the family, etc. Remember that? That was your rationale for the melt downs of ‘07 and ‘08. Now we’re on the dcorstep of the playoffs and you’re talking about how great it is to play meaningful games this time of you. Face it, if the Raiders were 2-14 right now you’d be telling us how important this game is while shilling for every last Al Davis holdover. Oh, and Merry Christmas.
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Wow. Someone must not have gotten what they thought Santa was getting them. Or he woke up on the wrong side of the cot.

At that stage of the tie-breaking, after bengals eliminated with a 6-6 conference record, the SOV would eliminate BOTH titans and jets at the same time, because the SOV percentages for Raiders, Jets and Titans are not tied themselves. Wouldn’t even have to revert back to a h2h win over Jets.

434….Yes, if the Raiders had won 3 more games they’d be 11 and 4 right now and we wouldn’t be having this conversation….they didn’t .. So we are having this conversation …
Not sure I get your point …it is what it is…

silverback

I am not ready to accept that the interceptions are just what comes with Palmers gunslinger mentality. He absolutely needs to repair this part of his game even if it means taking away some of his playmaking ability. That being said I do give him props for being able to make the plays that he did against the Chiefs with virtually no running game.

All game I was thinking to myself, I don’t think I’ve seen Jackson call a play-action fake end-around. We’ve been so predictable, every time the wideout runs around it’s either been Bush between the tackles, or an end-around, if called one we could get a big play.

So first play of OT, was excellent.

RaiderCrunch

djohnnyg Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 10:04 am
What a range of emotions yesterday. I lost the feed online so had to follow with reading the blog comments and nfl.com where they write out what the last play was etc. and I see (in writing) how Raiders had 3 and out, then how KC drove down to Raiders 31, and i thought “this can’t be happening….again”. Soooooo depressing. I finally realized the FG was blocked by reading the posts on here.

Then, had to pray the coin toss went to us cuz I KNEW the D wouldn’t stop ‘em from driving for a fg if they got ball first.

Then I saw on NFL.COM “Darrius Heyward Bey (pass from Carson Palmer) for 53 yds. to KC 23″ and I yelled out “YES”.

When I saw that final score pop up “16-13″ it was a very happy moment to say the least.
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Steve does a pretty good job with the live blog too. You can even comment, ask questions, and he gives some field obdservations. So between nfl.com, this blog and Steves’ live chat, not bad for not gettin the game on tv.

For example, on the last play of OT Steve posts each time:

-Their lined up, snap down

-Kick on the way

-It’s good. RAIDERS win

RaiderCrunch

And yes I thought the OT came down to the coin toss. Felt pretty good if the Raiders won the toss they’d at least get a FG attempt.

And I also knew if we lost the toss, KC probably woulda marched for the win. Sick feeling knowing that.

RaiderCrunch

GoodOle00 Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
HOw about Hue Jackson on the sideline right after KC picks up 13 yds on 3rd and 31 to get in FG range at the close of the half?

Chucky B called a 3 man rush prevent D to alloww the easy pick up to get them in range.

You can read Hues lips as he says “What The F***?!” TWICE…he looks disgusted.

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So in other words, Chucky B is gone? Interesting. KC will keep Romeo cause they dont want HueJax picking him up for our new DC. Damn!

RaiderCrunch

Kyle Orton wanting revenge on Denver and the Chiefs playing for Romeos’ job sake = Confidence

Denver coming off two losses and a lot at stake and knowing how KC feels = Pants Pissers

BewareofRaiders

Romeo crennel will have his D ready to shut down teblow. And we will just take the lives out of the chargers and win the west and be in a dog fight with the steelers

504 Raider

Hope everyone in The Nation had a great Christmas. We will crush Diego and KC will stop Tebow and MaGahee. Like the fact that Denver’s secondary is in shambles. Even if the injured guys play they won’t be that effective.

Good scenario regarding KC/Den. Crennell’s fighting for the KC head coach job, he has all the incentive in the world to win next week. He’s a defensive minded coach, should shut Tebow and their running game down.

It’s our game that has me concerned. It has choke written all over it. I also think the refs will be doing everything they can to screw us, to get Tebow into the playoffs. They’ll have complete plausibility, with our reputation. (those who promised “build a bully” would haunt us, you’re wise beyond words).

Bob Marley you are full of it man because a few years ago you said it’s not about winning and losing, it’s just about being a Raider fan, part of the family, etc. Remember that? That was your rationale for the melt downs of ‘07 and ‘08. Now we’re on the dcorstep of the playoffs and you’re talking about how great it is to play meaningful games this time of you. Face it, if the Raiders were 2-14 right now you’d be telling us how important this game is while shilling for every last Al Davis holdover. Oh, and Merry Christmas.
=======================================

Wow. Someone must not have gotten what they thought Santa was getting them. Or he woke up on the wrong side of the cot.

…………

That is so stupid. At least a hundred people have commented here today. Are they all having some kind of sad christmas, too? I mean, god forbid someone can’t step away and use a computer, or their phone. Anyhow, I was just pointing out how Marley was the one who was always about “it’s not about winning”, etc. Now, suddenly, it’s all about winning to him. Now we just have to get him to admit that Jackson’s trade for Palmer was the reason for this success. Because if Kyle Boller was our starting QB right now, we’d be playing for the draft, bud.

Except they’re wrong about a Bengals-Raiders tie.
Raiders win it on better conference record.
Can’t see where they reckon Bengals wins tie over Raiders. I saw NFLN just now say the same thing as you, but I can’t see it.

GG Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
I think some of these playoff picture analysts have neglected the four-tie scenario.
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Dont like that scenario. Gives the league to much room to somehow manipulate this thing and eliminate the Raiders. They will find a way to screw us out of this. My guess is they want the four-way. Ouch.

Raiders for life

504 Raider Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Bush will be motivated to reach his first 1000 yard season. He needs 89. I expect him to run harder than we have ever seen him run

##############################################

I’m thinking the same, not bad stats for a late starter. Mike is a RAIDER

qodrn1

Why or why could this team just have beat Miami? Everyone else has.

Sheeesh.

qodrn1

Don’t worry about the playoffs too much.

If the Raiders don’t win the Division, they will probably change the rules due to a yet to be invented
penalty.

after bengals eliminated, the SOV eliminates only one team (and if that’s the Jets because the titans beating the Texans (10-5) would leapfrog their SOV above the Jets beating the Dolphins (5-10), leaving titans and raiders where the titans would beat the raiders on common games.

But let me work out the SOV first if Titans and Jets both win. Currently the SOVs are:

Titans (.375) vs Jets (.392) and Raiders (.442)

brb as i calculate…

Raiders for life

If the Raiders don’t win the Division, they will probably change the rules due to a yet to be invented
penalty.

But really, SOV should eliminate both Titans and Jets, because the SOVs themselves are not tied.

Eg, conference record tiebreaker. bengals 6-6, the rest 7-5. Because 3 teams are still tied 7-5, they have to go to the next tiebreaker. So if the SOVs are not tied, then that should eliminate all but the Raiders.

Raiders for life Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
If the Raiders don’t win the Division, they will probably change the rules due to a yet to be invented
penalty.

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Offensive foul, aggressive catching #17
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GG Says:
December 25th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
Yeah, RaiderCrunch, none of them have mentioned the four-way and you’re probably right, the NFL finding a way to make some BS application of the clear-cut process to deny the Raiders.

The league bastards will discount our OT win against the Chiefs claiming since the game was tied at the end of regulation, it therefore counts as a loss, and thus we are eliminated. Typical scoundrel cheats they are will pull this fabricated rule right out of the book.

So it becomes imperative we win against SD and Denver gets blown out. That is our only hope.

As none of the teams are tied on SOV, surely the worst two eliminated leaving the Raiders.

I’m just gonna assume here that the NFL is NOT saying yet the Raiders definitely would go thru in a four-way tie because SOV has to factor in results of week 17 games, and so they can’t say for sure JUST YET that any team is definitely in/out based on SOV.